What is PR?
A question I often get asked after sharing my job title is,
“What is Public Relations?” followed by “So what is it you actually do?”
I would like to begin with the name, 'Public Relations'. In its simplest form, this defines itself as ‘relations with the public’. Conventionally, the role of a PR practitioner consists of establishing, developing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders to influence the way an organisation is perceived.
As defined by the Public Relations Society of America, PR “is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their public's.”
It is known as the business of persuasion, this is because a good PR practitioner will be able to persuade, and affect change in public opinion. Therefore enabling a business to reach a broader audience and sell more products and services.
Edward Bernays, one of the pioneers of PR, explained: "The three main elements of public relations are practically as old as society: informing people, persuading people, or integrating people with people."
PR is commonly confused with advertising, although the line between the two is often unclear, they are in fact very different industries. The balance careers revealed some of the differences:
📺 Advertising is paid space
🗣️ PR is free coverage
📺 When paying for advertisement space, you have full control over what will be mentioned and how it looks and sounds
🗣️ When striving for free publicity from the media, you have no control over how your news is presented, and journalists have no obligation to share it at all
📺 Consumers know when they are reading an advertisement and are aware the business is trying to sell them something
🗣️ When an individual reads a news article written about a product, it is viewed differently as it is from a trusted third-party source
How can entrepreneurs use it?
To connect and inform your audience
A previous blog post, Great Entrepreneurs Build Deep People Connections clarified (yes, the title gives it away) that entrepreneurs must be able to communicate. Whether it be to their customer, through social media or the press; to construct a business that is known, used and respected by the public, an entrepreneur must be able to connect with the audience.
Public relations is a brilliant way of connecting with the audience in an honest and more personal way.
You can communicate with them directly, and create a mutual understanding where you can find out what your audience would like from your business. The audience can also discover more about you as an entrepreneur, and your ideas or product.
Understanding your audience will develop the foundations of your PR plan, allowing you to target your customers effectively with relevant content to them. This will assist you in building thought leadership and a loyal customer base.
Now you know a little more about who you are talking to, you can use PR to inform them. PR is an effective method of sharing your ideas and can be earned by delivering news and information to the media about your business through the use of press releases and pitches. As an entrepreneur, being featured by the media is invaluable because it can build exposure quickly and credibly, which can massively impact the success of your business 📈
The more you are mentioned in the media, the higher chance you have of persuading your audience! This is because individuals don’t tend to buy unless they feel well informed of the product or service.
When something goes wrong...
When starting up a business, pending disasters aren’t normally on the forefront of an entrepreneur’s mind. However, being knowledgeable and prepared on what to do and how to deal with a crisis when it happens, is essential in order to keep your business running smoothly.
Coca Cola is an excellent example of turning something that went wrong, into an admirable public relations campaign.
I’m sure some of you will remember back in 1985 when Coca Cola changed the recipe of the famous soft drink in a dire attempt to win their taste test war with competitor Pepsi.
They branded the drink “New Coke” and let it take to the stores; loyal Coca Cola customers were outraged, and the company received thousands of complaints and (of course) heaps of bad press.
The company took advantage of their mistake by reinventing the old taste and naming it “Coca Cola Classic” which is still used today. The scandal received so much attention, it gave Coca Cola masses of exposure over all its competitors and resulted in a significant increase in sales, media coverage and customer base.
It just goes to show, with the use of effective Public Relations, you can turn bad press into good press, or (at least) 'soften the blow' by formulating an excellent response to the bad news in order to protect the reputation of the company. Phew!
An example of this is the current pandemic of COVID-19, which has caused global disruption and has affected every business in one way or another. Although it is out of their control, organisations have to use public relations to create a response to the outbreak and implement a crisis communications plan.
The Institute for Public Relations produced a communications study from March 5th - 10th showing that entrepreneurs are utilising communications functions as an essential resource in dealing with COVID-19.
Their report disclosed that 81% of respondents said the communication function is “important” or “very important” to their company’s response to the pandemic. With all non-essential stores closing, businesses have had to adapt, and communicate with their customers through a different medium.
We have seen brands switch from events, billboard and newspaper advertising, to social media, email and website marketing. All while altering their PR strategy to fit the situation.
ASOS did a brilliant job of this, by creating their latest social media campaign #athomewithasos that displayed a compilation of influencers wearing the brand and showing off their favourite stay-at-home pieces, which encouraged the audience to purchase their style inspiration and share their own pictures at home with the hashtag.
Image from ASOS' Instagram.
Promote and strengthen brand image
Public relations is key when building, promoting and strengthening a brands image and values. Distributing positive content through your company’s platforms displays your brand in a good light and promotes your brand image, furthermore, providing clarity for the audience as they can gain a better understanding of you and your business.
Walker Sands highlighted that you should document your key messages and align them with your audiences, which can be followed up with PR to broadcast the messages in online blogs, trade publications and news outlets.
The public is more likely to trust a well-established brand that knows its unique selling points and the characteristics they bring to the industry. Forbes emphasised that public relations can help create brand identity and generate customer recognition.
Another way to promote your business and stand out amongst competitors is by sharing user testimonials. As an entrepreneur, customer testimonials and positive reviews are increasingly significant, especially for start-up businesses.
Not only does a strong user testimonial increase visibility for your business and reinforce your brand image, but it allows your customers to promote the product for you, and who could be better at persuading the public, other than the public themselves?
Below, I have taken Javed's testimonial for the High Profile Club as an example...
When a potential customer comes across this testimonial, this is what they gain:
✅ They know that Javed is a real person, as we can see from his nice, clear picture at the top there. This already proves to the viewer that the review they are about to read is trustworthy because they can see who it is coming from.
✅ They are provided with an employee's name "Tanya H", further reinforcing the reliability of the source. Additionally, if the customer goes on to speak to Tanya when signing up themselves, they will know they are in good hands as other customers have shared their good experience with her.
✅ They are recommended to sign up and can see the organisation has been rated with ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (this one speaks for itself).
What business wouldn't want/benefit from a wonderful testimonial like Javed's!?
Mark Brinker shares an effective process on ‘How to Ask for A Testimonial,’ in which he suggests offering an incentive, providing examples and/or a template, and creating some urgency to attain them.
Once you have a collection of steady-flowing testimonials, it is important that you display them!
You can leverage your client testimonials and reviews by: 🖥️ Creating a testimonial page on your website. (Check out ours here)
📰 Including testimonials in your newsletter.
🎙️ Quoting them in your press release.
📱 Sharing them on your social media platforms.
Exhibiting customer reviews will give your audience plenty of opportunities to view other consumers experiences with your company, therefore allowing readers to gain trust and respect for your organisation. Meaning, they will feel more comfortable to buy and invest with you.
On the whole, PR is an extremely powerful process that can determine how your business is perceived by the public. It is essential in establishing your audience, communicating with them, promoting your ideas, managing situations and strengthening brand image.
I hope I have given you a few ideas on how you can use PR to help your business. Please feel free to leave me a comment below, I would love to find out what you enjoyed about this post! 😃
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About the author
Jasmine is a Public Relations assistant at the High Profile Club. She is currently completing a BA degree in Marketing with Public Relations at London South Bank University and has a keen interest in PR and the fashion and communications industry.
After growing up in Hampshire, Jasmine chose to move to London in order to pursue her career aspirations and work amongst some of the most established thought-leaders in the world of public relations and communications.
Find Jasmine on LinkedIn here.
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